April 1st, 2016/ BY Elvis Deane

Don’t go to Wine Country Without These Apps

There’s nothing quite like a relaxing weekend tasting tipple in wine country! Lush, green vineyards make the perfect setting for a romantic escape for two, a fun-fueled getaway with your best friends or a solo trip to shake off the stresses of work. No matter who’s in your vacation crew, you want the trip to go off without a hitch, and for this you’ve got technology on your side. We’ve found the best apps to enrich, preserve and share your adventures in wine country.

1. Wine Spectator’s WineRatings+

Get the experts’ take on what you’re tasting with WineRatings+, an app created by Wine Spectator – one of the world’s most respected wine magazines. This sommelier in your pocket is packed full of tasting notes, ratings, reviews and information on all the world’s leading wine regions. The free version is perfectly usable for a trip to wine country, but you get to try the premium version for 30 days anyway so you can take advantage of a bunch of additional wine geek content.

2. Delectable Wine

Where WineRatings+ is all about expert opinions, Delectable Wine is all about what you think. Ever been to a restaurant or tasting and loved a particular wine, only to forget what it’s called the second you leave the room? This free app is your personal wine journal. Take photos of the bottles you taste and Delectable will identify them. Then add ratings and make notes, and in a couple of month’s time when your haul from wine country weekend is long gone you can order more straight from your phone. You can also recommend wines and tag friends – with this app, you can remind your wine country crew that it’s about time to catch up over a bottle!

3. Trip Splitter

If you’re traveling with a group of friends you don’t want to be constantly keeping track of who paid for what. Trip Splitter easily tracks expenses along the way, and at the end, it’ll spit out a report so you don’t have to bust out the calculator. The $1.99 is well worth it to quit playing accountant and get back to sipping sauvignon blanc.

4. Route4Me

Many GPS apps fall flat when you want to create a trip plan with several stops, such as a day hitting a variety of wineries. Route4Me was designed with delivery drivers in mind, so it’s perfect for planning a big day. In the morning have the designated driver download this free app, enter all your vineyard stops in the order you wish to visit them and you’re off!

5. Snapseed

You’re obviously going to want to share that serene wine country scenery with the world – and make your friends just a little envious! To make your vineyard pics really shine you need great photo editing software. Snapseed is one of the best photo editing apps out there. It’s incredibly intuitive and user friendly, and contains all the basic tools for color adjustments, straightening, cropping and sharpening, as well as a selection of filters far better than the basic Instagram ones to enhance your shots. You can even make imperfections disappear with the healing tool.

With expert wine opinions a swipe away and your tech taking care of the trip planning and financial nitty-gritty, all that’s left for you to do is eat, drink and be merry in wine country. Cheers to that!